Achilles - Ancient History - HISTORY.com Google Achilles: Early Life Like most mythological heroes, Achilles had a complicated family tree. His father was Peleus, the mortal king of the Myrmidons–a people who, according to legend, were extraordinarily fearless and skilled soldiers. His mother was Thetis, a Nereid. Did You Know? Today, we use the phrase “Achilles heel” to describe a powerful person’s fatal weakness. According to myths and stories composed long after the Iliad, Thetis was extraordinarily concerned about her baby son’s mortality. She did everything she could to make him immortal: She burned him over a fire every night, then dressed his wounds with ambrosial ointment; and she dunked him into the River Styx, whose waters were said to confer the invulnerability of the gods. However, she gripped him tightly by the foot as she dipped him into the river–so tightly that the water never touched his heel. As a result, Achilles was invulnerable everywhere but there. When he was 9 years old, a seer predicted that Achilles would die heroically in battle against the Trojans.

When she heard about this, Thetis disguised him as a girl and sent him to live on the Aegean island of Skyros. To be a great warrior was Achilles’ fate, however, and he soon left Skyros and joined the Greek army. In a last-ditch effort to save her son’s life, Thetis asked the divine blacksmith Hephaestus to make a sword and shield that would keep him safe. The armor that Hephaestus produced for Achilles did not make him immortal, but it was distinctive enough to be recognized by friend and foe alike. When Homer wrote the Iliad in about 720 BCE, however, readers and listeners would not have known any of this. They only knew that Achilles was a great hero, that he had superhuman strength and courage and that he was supremely handsome. Homer painted a more nuanced picture: In addition to these qualities, his Achilles was vengeful and quick to anger and could be petulant when he did not get his way. He was also deeply loyal and would sacrifice anything for his friends and family.

Achilles: The Trojan War According to legend, the Trojan War began when the god-king Zeus decided to reduce Earth’s mortal population by arranging a war between the Greeks (Homer calls them the Achaeans) and the Trojans. He did this by meddling in their political and emotional affairs. At Achilles’ parents’ wedding banquet, Zeus invited the prince of Troy, a young man named Paris, to judge a beauty contest between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Each of the goddesses offered Paris a bribe in exchange for his vote. Aphrodite’s was the most alluring: She promised to give the young prince the most beautiful wife in the world. Unfortunately, the wife in question–Helen, the daughter of Zeus–was already married to someone else: Menelaus, the king of Sparta . At Aphrodite’s urging, Paris went to Sparta, won Helen’s heart and took her (along with all of Menelaus’ money) back to Troy. Menelaus vowed revenge. He assembled an army of Greece’s greatest warriors, including Achilles and his Myrmidons, and set off to conquer Troy and get his wife back.

In Homer’s telling, this war lasted for 10 bloody years. Achilles: The Illiad When the Iliad begins, the Trojan War has been going on for nine years. Achilles, the poem’s protagonist, has led one battle after another. He has met with great success–in fact, he is undefeated in battle–but the war itself has reached a stalemate. Homer’s story focuses on a different conflict, however: the internecine quarrel between his hero and Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean armies and Menelaus’ brother. In a battle that took place before the poem begins, Agamemnon had taken as a concubine a young Trojan woman named Chryseis. Chryseis’ father, a priest of the god Apollo, tried to buy his daughter’s freedom, but Agamemnon mocked his entreaties and refused to release the girl. Enraged, Apollo punished the Greek armies by sending a plague to kill the soldiers one by one. As his ranks thinned, Agamemnon finally agreed to allow Chryseis to return to her father.

However, he demanded a replacement concubine in exchange: Achilles’ wife, the Trojan princess Breseis. Achilles did as his commander asked and relinquished his bride. Then, he announced that he would no longer fight on Agamemnon’s behalf. He gathered his belongings, including the armor Hephaestus had made, and refused to come out of his tent. With the Greeks’ greatest warrior off the battlefield, the tide began to turn in favor of the Trojans. The Greeks lost one battle after another. Eventually, Achilles’ best friend, the soldier Patroclus, was able to wrangle a compromise: Achilles would not fight, but he would let Patroclus use his powerful armor as a disguise. That way, the Trojans would think that Achilles had returned to battle and would retreat in fear. The plan was working until Apollo, still seething about Agamemnon’s treatment of Chryseis and her father, intervened on the Trojans’ behalf. He helped the Trojan prince Hector to find and kill Patroclus. Furious, Achilles vowed to take revenge. He chased Hector back to Troy, slaughtering Trojans all the way.

When they got to the city walls, Hector tried to reason with his pursuer, but Achilles was not interested. He stabbed Hector in the throat, killing him. Hector had begged for an honorable burial in Troy, but Achilles was determined to humiliate his enemy even in death. He dragged Hector’s body behind his chariot all the way back to the Achaean camp and tossed it on the garbage heap. However, in the poem’s last section Achilles finally relents: He returns Hector’s body to his father for a proper burial. Achilles: The Fate of Achilles In his Iliad, Homer does not explain what happened to Achilles. According to later legends (and bits and pieces of Homer’s own Odyssey), the warrior returned to Troy after Hector’s funeral to exact further revenge for Patroclus’ death. However, the still-vengeful Apollo told Hector’s brother Paris that Achilles was coming. Paris, who was not a brave warrior, ambushed Achilles as he entered Troy. He shot his unsuspecting enemy with an arrow, which Apollo guided to the one place he knew Achilles was vulnerable: his heel, where his mother’s hand had kept the waters of the Styx from touching his skin.

Achilles died on the spot, still undefeated in battle. Tags Achilles Achilles See More Achilles Pictures > Achilles was a hero in Greek mythology and one of the main characters that participated in the Trojan War . He was also the protagonist of Homer’s epic, the Iliad. He was the son of Peleus , king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis , a nymph. Both Zeus and Poseidon were in love with Thetis , however Prometheus warned them of a prophecy that said the son of Thetis would be greater than his father; so, the two gods decided to withdraw, and Peleus ended up marrying her. When Achilles was born, his mother wanted to make him immortal and thus, dipped him in the river Styx . However, she did not realise that his heel, by which she held him, was not touched by the waters, and so that was the only part of his body that remained mortal. According to another version, Thetis covered Achilles ’ body in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire to burn away his mortality; however, she was enraged because she was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned them.

When the Trojan War started, Achilles commanded 50 ships, each having 50 Myrmidons. He also appointed five commanders; Menesthius, Eudorus, Peisander, Phoenix and Alcimedon. After departing, they landed in Mysia by mistake, which was then ruled by Telephus . Telephus was wounded in the battle by Achilles , and could not be healed. After consulting an oracle, he was told that he who inflicted the wound would be able to heal it; so, Telephus asked Achilles to heal him, and in return he guided them to Troy . The Iliad starts the narrative of the Trojan War with Agamemnon , leader of the Achaeans , having acquired a woman called Chryseis as his slave. Her father, being a priest of Apollo , begs the god to help him, and Apollo sends a plague among the Greeks. Calchas identifies the source of the problem and Agamemnon reluctantly consents; however, he demands that Achilles hand over his own prize, another woman called Briseis.

Achilles , furious that he was dishonoured in such a way, withdraws from battle and asks his mother to convince Zeus to help the Trojans, so that he may prove himself again in the battlefield. The Trojans manage to repel the Greeks back to the shore; Patroclus , Achilles ’ friend, wearing Achilles ’ armor, successfully leads the Myrmidons against the enemy, but is subsequently killed by Hector , the Trojan prince. Enraged by his friend’s death, Achilles joins the battle and tracks down Hector , whom he kills in a face to face duel. He then drags Hector ’s lifeless body with his chariot during the funeral games he held for Patroclus . The death of Achilles is not narrated in the Iliad, although it was predicted by Hector with his dying breath. Paris , the brother of Hector , managed to kill the hero with an arrow that landed on Achilles ’ heel, the only vulnerable part of his body. The arrow was poisoned and some sources say that it was guided by the god Apollo . Achilles was cremated and his ashes were mingled with those of Patroclus . Achilles Is also called Achilleas, Achilleus.

Achilles | Greek mythology | Britannica.com Greek mythology hero Achilles, in Greek mythology , son of the mortal Peleus , king of the Myrmidons , and the Nereid , or sea nymph , Thetis . Achilles was the bravest, handsomest, and greatest warrior of the army of Agamemnon in the Trojan War . According to Homer , Achilles was brought up by his mother at Phthia with his cousin and inseparable companion Patroclus . One of the non-Homeric tales of his childhood relates that Thetis dipped Achilles in the waters of the River Styx , by which means he became invulnerable, except for the part of his heel by which she held him—the proverbial “Achilles’ heel.” Amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a board game, painted by Exekias, c.

550–540 … © DeA Picture Library The later mythographers related that Peleus, having received an oracle that his son would die fighting at Troy, sent Achilles to the court of Lycomedes on Scyros, where he was dressed as a girl and kept among the king’s daughters (one of whom, Deïdamia, bore him Neoptolemus ). Hearing from the soothsayer Calchas that Troy could not be taken without Achilles, the Greeks searched for and found him. Thetis immersing her son, Achilles, in the River Styx by Antoine Borel, 18th century; in the … The Art Archive/SuperStock During the first nine years of the war, Achilles ravaged the country around Troy and took 12 cities. In the 10th year a quarrel with Agamemnon occurred when Achilles insisted that Agamemnon restore Chryseis, his prize of war, to her father, a priest of Apollo , so as to appease the wrath of Apollo, who had decimated the camp with a pestilence.

An irate Agamemnon recouped his loss by depriving Achilles of his favourite slave, Briseis. Achilles refused further service, and consequently the Greeks floundered so badly that at last Achilles allowed Patroclus to impersonate him, lending him his chariot and armour. Hector (the eldest son of King Priam of Troy) slew Patroclus, and Achilles, having finally reconciled with Agamemnon, obtained new armour from the god Hephaestus and slew Hector. After dragging Hector’s body behind his chariot, Achilles gave it to Priam at his earnest entreaty. The Iliad concludes with the funeral rites of Hector. It makes no mention of the death of Achilles, though the Odyssey mentions his funeral. The poet Arctinus in his Aethiopis took up the story of the Iliad and related that Achilles, having slain the Ethiopian king Memnon and the Amazon Penthesilea , was himself slain in battle by Priam’s son Paris , whose arrow was guided by Apollo.

Achilles slaying Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, Attic black-figure amphora signed by … Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum Learn More in these related articles: Greek Mythology: Achilles Greek Mythology History >> Ancient Greece >> Greek Mythology What is Achilles known for? Achilles was one of the greatest warriors and heroes in Greek Mythology. He was a major character in the Iliad by Homer where he fought in the Trojan War against the city of Troy. Birth of Achilles Achilles' father was Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and his mother was Thetis, a sea nymph. After Achilles was born, his mother wanted to protect him from harm. She held him by the heel and dipped him into the river Styx. In Greek Mythology, the river Styx was located in the Underworld and had special powers. Achilles became invulnerable everywhere but at his heel where his mother held him. Because Achilles was a half-god, he was very strong and soon became a great warrior. However, he was also half human and wasn't immortal like his mother. He would get old and die someday and he could also be killed.

The Trojan War Begins When Helen, the wife of the Greek King Menelaus, was taken by the Trojan Prince Paris, the Greeks went to war to get her back. Achilles joined the battle and brought along a group of powerful soldiers called the Myrmidons. Achilles Fights Troy During the Trojan War, Achilles was unstoppable. He killed many of Troy's greatest warriors. However, the battle raged on for years. Many of the Greek gods were involved, some helping the Greeks and others helping the Trojans. Achilles Refuses to Fight At one point during the war, Achilles captured a beautiful princess named Briseis and fell in love with her. However, the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, became angry with Achilles and took Briseis from him. Achilles became depressed and refused to fight. Patroclus Dies With Achilles not fighting, the Greeks began to lose the battle. The greatest warrior of Troy was Hector and no one could stop him. Achilles' best friend was a soldier named Patroclus. Patroclus convinced Achilles to lend him his armor. Patroclus entered the battle dressed as Achilles.

Thinking that Achilles was back, the Greek army was inspired and began to fight harder. Just when things were improving for the Greeks, Patroclus met up with Hector. The two warriors engaged in battle. With the help of the god Apollo, Hector killed Patroclus and took Achilles' armor. Achilles then rejoined the battle in order to avenge his friend's death. He met Hector on the battlefield and, after a long fight, defeated him. Death Achilles continued to battle the Trojans and it seemed like he could not be killed. However, the Greek god Apollo knew his weakness. When Paris of Troy shot an arrow at Achilles, Apollo guided it so that it struck Achilles on the heel. Achilles eventually died from the wound. The Achilles' Heel Today, the term "Achilles' heel" is used to describe a point of weakness that could lead to ones' downfall. Interesting Facts About Achilles One story tells how Thetis disguised Achilles as a girl in the court of king of Skyros in order to keep him from war. Another Greek hero, Odysseus traveled to Skyros and tricked Achilles into giving himself away. The Achilles tendon that connects the heel to the calf is named after the hero Achilles.

The Greek god Apollo was angry with Achilles because Achilles killed Apollo's son. He fought and killed Penthesilea, the Queen of the Amazons. After Achilles' death, the heroes Odysseus and Ajax competed for Achilles' armor. Odysseus won and gave the armor to Achilles' son. Take a ten question quiz about this page. For more about Ancient Greece: Overview Heroes in Greek Mythology Heroes in Greek Mythology Achilles Achilles was the strongest and most fearless warrior in the Greek war against the Trojans. As an infant his mother dipped him into the River Styx, which made him invulnerable everywhere but the heel by which she held him. For ten years Achilles was a great hero in the Trojan War. But in the end Paris , son of the Trojan king, fatally wounded Achilles in the heel. Today, the tendon that connects the calf muscles to the heel bone is called the Achilles tendon, and a small but dangerous weakness is known as an “Achilles heel.” Hercules (Herakles) Hercules Brave and powerful Hercules is perhaps the most loved of all Greek heroes. The son of Zeus and Alcmene (a granddaughter of Perseus), Heracles grew up to become a famed warrior.

But Zeus's jealous wife, Hera, made him temporarily insane, and he killed his wife and children. As punishment Heracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labors (see The Twelve Labors of Hercules ), which have been the subject of countless works of art and drama. Heracles is often depicted wearing a lion skin and wielding a club. See also: The Labors of Heracles . Jason Jason was the leader of the Argonauts, the 50 heroes who sailed in search of the Golden Fleece. Jason's uncle, Pelias, had stolen the kingdom that should belong to Jason. He promised to return it only if Jason would bring home the Golden Fleece—the wool from the magical winged ram that became the constellation Aries. On their journey Jason and the Argonauts faced down such dangers as the deadly singing Sirens . They ultimately captured the fleece with the help of the sorceress Medea, who became Jason's wife. Odysseus (Ulysses) Odysseus King of Ithaca and a celebrated warrior, Odysseus helped the Greeks triumph in the Trojan War. Afterward he journeyed nearly ten years to return home to Ithaca and his wife Penelope .

Along the way Odysseus's courage and cleverness saved him and his men from such monsters as the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis. Back in Ithaca, Odysseus proved his identity to Penelope and once again ruled his homeland. These adventures are told in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. See also: Odysseus . Perseus The son of Zeus and Danaë , Perseus completed dangerous feats with his quick thinking and talents as a warrior. Most famous was his slaying of the Gorgon Medusa . Because looking directly at the monstrous Medusa would turn a man to stone, Perseus killed her while watching her reflection in a mirror. After beheading the Gorgon with his sword he kept her head in his satchel. Later, to save the princess Andromeda from being eaten by a sea monster, Perseus pulled out Medusa's head and turned the creature to stone. See also: The Model Hero: Perseus . Theseus Theseus was known for his triumph over numerous monsters, especially the Minotaur , which lived in a labyrinth on the island of Crete.

Every year the people of Athens had been forced to send fourteen young people for the Minotaur to eat alive. But Theseus, using a ball of magic thread from the princess Ariadne , found his way in and out of the labyrinth and killed the beast. Theseus was the son of either Aegeus, king of Athens, or the sea god Poseidon . In later life he became king of Athens and a famous warrior. Achilles, Greece, Greek mythology Greek Mythology Zeus Achilles Achilles was a half-divine hero, being the son of the sea nymph Thetis and king Peleus of Thessaly. He was educated by the wise centaur Cheiron and was described as extremely handsome but also very emotional. He was almost immortal since his mother had dipped him into the river Styx as a baby. Holding the child by its heel when putting it in the water, Thetis made Achilles' whole body except the heel immortal. He had a son,Neoptolemus, with the Skyrian princess Deidameia, who met her when he was hidden in the Palace of the king Likomidis on the island on Skyros.

When the war against Troy was ignited by the kidnapping of Helen, Thetis learnt by an oracle that her son would not come back alive if he joined Agamemnon. The oracle had said that he would either die young and glorious, or reach old age in obscurity.Thetis then send Achilles to Skyros to the king Likomidis and disguise himself as a woman, thus becoming the first known cross-dresser, but unfortunately he was revealed by Odysseus and forced to join the army against Troy. Odysseus managed to reveal Achilles true identity by dressing as a merchant, then filling a cart with weapons, clothing and perfumes. While the women ran to see the clothes and perfumes, Achilles ran to he weapons. According to another version, Odysseus blew a horn, which made all the women flee except Achilles. Achilles led a fleet of 50 ships with an army of warriors called the Myrmidons . When they arrived in Troy, they also conquered 12 cities by the sea and 11 on land. Achilles killed the queen of the Amazons , Penthelisea, but just as she died their eyes met and they both fell desperately in love.

After an argument with king Agamemnon , who had taken Briseis , a beautiful hostage, from Achilles - the hero was so upset that he pulled out of the war. His abcense from the battle field gave courage to the Trojans, who no longer having to face Achilles, began to gain ground and cause a lot of suffering to the Greeks. In Vain Agamemnon and other Greeks begged him to take part in the battle and they sent gifts and slaves to persuade him to back his decision. But the entreaties from Agamemnon and the other Greeks were all in vain. Eventually only the entreaties of his closest friend Patroclus made him him retreat and gave him his great armor that it was made by the god Hephaestus. to fool the Trojans, that supposedly was Achilles who took part in the battle. Hector but he understood and the battle that followed killed Patroclus and took its armor. Patroclus managed to trick the Trojans, who thought he was Achilles who took part in the battle. But Hector understood that he was not Achilles and during the battle that followed he killed him and took his armor.

Patroclus was his best friend and when he was killed by the Trojan hero Hector Achilles was totally mortified. Homer describes how Achilles cut off his hair in mourning and lit the funeral pyre. As a revenge, Achilles killed Hector, dragged the body around the city. This fact and the disrespect towards the dead Hector angered the god Apollo who helped the Trojan prince Paris , Helen's kidnapper with Aphrodite's help, to shot an arrow into Achilles only weak spot: his heel. Thetis and the Nine Muses attended Achilles funeral. In the underworld Achilles remained a leader, but it was not a happy existence. According to another version, the hero was taken to Elysium by his mother, where he married Helen or Medea. Yet another myth tells us that his shadow asked Polyxene to be present at his funeral. She was a Trojan princess who, despite him killing her brother, had fallen in love with Achilles. Polyxene went willingly to the funeral pyre, where the Greeks killed her.

Brief history of the Iliad Nine years are supposed to have elapsed in desultory warfare, and the opening line of the poem, Sing, heavenly muse, the wrath of Peleus son, introduces Achilles, who has quarrelled with Agamemnon about a captive woman appropriated by the latter. This has angered Apollo, and a pestilence is raging in the Greek camp. Agamemnon consents to restore his captive to her father, but insists that Achilles shall give up a woman named Briseis whom he has carried off. Achilles complies, but appeals to his goddessmother, Thetis, who counsels him to nurse his wrath, and withdraw from the siege, whilst she intercedes with Jupiter. The king of the gods, however, has gone to a festival of twelve days duration with the Ethiopians, and, when Thetis obtains an audience, he tells her that he dreads the taunts of his wife Hera, but pledges his promise to humiliate the Greeks. Hera, however, has witnessed the interview, and a connubial dialogue ensues, in which she is silenced by the Thunderer.

Hephaestus soothes his mother with nectar, and hands the cup round, whilst the gods and goddesses make fun of his hobbling gait. Zeus sends a vision of Nestor to Agamemnon, urging him to storm the city. The king of men assembles his council, and, to test the temper of the army, proposes, before leading them to the assault, that they shall embark at once for home. They take him at his word and commence launching the galleys but Hera intervenes by sending Athens to bid Ulysses check their flight. He borrows the kings sceptre and awes the crowd. Thersites alone raises his voice in defiance upon which Ulysses chastises him, and the Greeks laugh heartily as he writhes and howls. They are then addressed. by Ulysses and Nestor, and Agamemnon concludes the debate by a call to immediate battle. But first the troops are well fed, whilst Agamemnon gives a banquet to six of the chieftains, at which Menelaus is present. The king stands by the burntoffering, to which no omen is vouchsafed.

Nevertheless, the army is set in array, and a long musterroll follows of the Greek clans on the one side, and of the Trojans and their allies on the other. The battle begins the Trojans move forward with shouts and clashing weapons, the Greeks in silence. Godlike in his beauty, Paris advances alone from the Trojan ranks,. and challenges the leaders of the Greeks to single combat. Menelaus springs from his chariot, exulting at the opportunity of gratifying his vengeance. But Paris starts back from the man he has wronged, and encounters Hector, who checks his retreat, ashamed at his cowardice, and Paris is induced by his brothers rebuke to accept the answer to his challenge. Helen is writing her own history when she is warned by the goddess Iris of the impending duel, and goes to the palace, where old King, Priam is sitting at the gate. Her beauty enchants every beholder, and all say it is no blame to fight for such. a woman, the spells of Venus are irresistible. She takes her place beside the king, and is pointing out to him the chiefs she is able to recognise, when he is summoned away to ratify the armistice.

Then the lists are measured and the combat takes place. Menelaus has seized Paris by his crest, when Venus breaks the strap and he is left with the empty helmet in his hand, the goddess wrapping Paris in a mist and transporting him to Helens chamber. Her first exclamation is, Back from the battle ! Would thou there hadst died ! but his misadventure is soon condoned. Jupiter now suggests that Helen be given up, and the fate of Troy averted but Hera is furious, and he consents to leave the city to her will. She accordingly sends Athens to incite the Trojans to break the truce by tempting Pandarus to aim at Menelaus. The goddess, however, turns the arrow aside. As when a mother from her infants cheek, wrapt in sweet slumbers, brushes off a fly. Nevertheless it has drawn blood, and Agamemnon fears his brother is mortally injured. Machaon, however, staunches the wound, and the Greek leaders being roused to avenge the treachery, their forces are marshalled, and Nestor counsels the dispositions of the line of battle, the plan of which is followed to the present day.

Again the two armies encounter each other, like two winter torrents mingling in a deep ravine. Then follows a series of single combats between warriors of note on either side, Athens cheering on the Greeks, and Apollo the Trojans. The gallant Diomed is hit by Pandarus, but the goddess heals the wound, and, returning to the contest, he kills his foe, and crushes the hipjoint of 1Eneas, who is screened from further harm by Venus. Diomed, however, wounds her in the palm, and she mounts to Olympus bewailing the injury she has suffered from a mortal. Her mother Dione consoles her by narrating how other deities have had to endure wrongs from men, whilst Apollo carries 1Eneas to be tended by Latona and Diana. Mars now calls Hector to the rescue, and Aeneas returns cured. The Greek line is giving way, when Hera and Athens alight on the battle plain.

The queen of the gods in form of Stentor of the brazen voice, reproaches the Greeks with cowardice, whilst Athens, taunting Diomed with his inferiority to his father Tydeus, who, though small in stature, was every inch a soldier, mounts his chariot against Mars, and the gods ichor being made to flow from a wound inflicted by Diomedes spear, he cries out with a shout like ten thousand men, and flies to Zeus who rates him soundly, but bids Poeon heal Mm, and Hebe prepares him a bath. The fight continues, and Diomedes encounters Glaucus, who, in answer to his inquiry, replies, Brave son of Tydeus. Glaucus, however, proceeds to announce himself as the grandson of Bellerophon, who rode Pegasus, and slew Chimmera, and Diomed remembers that his grandfather was Bellerophons guest. So, instead of fighting, they exchange armour in token of amity. The Trojans being hard pressed, Hector sends his mother, Hecuba, to offer prayers to Athena and finding Paris in the palace with Helen, upbraids him sharply.

Hector passes on to see his wife Andromache and their child. She is not in the palace, but at the Scan gate, eagerly watching the battle. Clinging to her husband, she entreats him not to be too prodigal of his life, for she is the last of her race , but, she adds, "While my Hector still survives, I see my father, mother, brethren all in thee". He attempts to soothe her, but, with a foreboding of his fate, he says, spies who force from him the information they desire, and behead him, after which they make their way to the Thracian camp, assassinate the king and twelve of his warriors as they sleep, and carry off their snow-white steeds. Next morning the battle is renewed, and the Greeks are very hard pressed. Achilles sends Patroclus to learn how they are faring, and Nestor begs him to persuade his master to come to the rescue. The Trojans charge the entrenchments, whilst an eagle drops a serpent in the midst of the combatants.

Hector makes the portent, saying, the best of omens is our countrys cause and the balance of the fight hangs even until he heaves a huge boulder, which bursts open the wooden gates of the Greek stockade, and as the Trojans rush in the Greeks flee in confusion to their ships. Neptune, however, in thq form of the soothsayer Calchas, rallies them, and Hectos advance is checked. But the Greek ships are still in danger of being burnt, and a proposal to launch them and escape during the night is with difficulty over-ruled. Hera now borrows from Venus her magic girdle, with which she diverts the attention of her husband, so that he may not help the Trojans, and Neptune leads the Greeks in person. Ajax meets Hector and hurls a stone against his breast, which disables him, and the Greeks rush to strip off his armour. The Trojan chiefs, however, shield him, and he is borne away to his chariot.

Zeus awakes in time to avert further danger from the Trojans, and, turning wrathfully on Hera, reminds her how he has punished her in former times, and explains his desire to teach the Greeks their utter helplessness without Achilles. For this purpose, Apollo is sent to revive Hector and accompany him back to the conflict. Flashing his shield in the faces of their adversaries, he clears a way for the Trojan chariots, The struggle is renewed, and, as Hector attacks the galley in which Ajax stands at bay with an enormous pike, Teucer plies his arrows, and twelve Trojans are slain in their attempts to set the Greek ships on fire. Achilles, who has been watching the peril of his countrymen, now consents that Patroclus shall go, clad in his armour, at the head of the Myrmidons, to aid them. The Trojans, believing it is Achilles himself who is leading, retreat in dismay, and Sarpedon, Jupiters son, is slain. But Patroclus ventures too far in pursuit Apollo meets and disarms him, Euphorbus stabs him from behind, and Hector drives his spear through his body.

With his dying breath he foretells the fate of his slayer, and the Greeks succeed in carrying off his body, Zeus casting a veil of darkness around it. The crisis of the story is now reached. Achilles is frantic with grief and rage at the death of his comrade, and eager to avenge him. His mother, Thetis, reminds him that when Hector falls his own last hour is near, but he replies, "Be it so, death comes in turn to all". He cannot, however, go forth without armour, and his mother promises that Vulcan shall forge him a suit by to-morrows dawn. Meanwhile, Iris bids him let the Trojans hear his voice, and, standing on the rampart, under the shield of Minerva, he shouts thrice aloud. They are seized with panic and abandon their pursuit of the Greeks, who bear off the corpse of Patroclus to Achilles tent. Vulcan is making velocipedes and automaton helpers when Thetis applies to him, but he willingly accedes to her request on behalf of her son.

The helmet and breast-plate and body gear are soon ready, but upon the shield he bestows his utmost skill, and the poets description of it is so graphic and elaborate that it will not bear condensing. Thus armed for the deadly fight, Achilles makes for the tent of Agamemnon, calling on the Greek leaders to make ready as he passes the galleys and he and the king, mutually admitting themselves to blame, are reconciled. Ulysses urges the need of a substantial meal for the army, from which Achilles sits apart, but is sustained by Minerva with ambrosia and nectar. When all is prepared for the battle he mounts his chariot, drawn by Xanthus and Balius, and bearing the ashen spear of Mount Pelion, the gift of the Centaur. Taunting his horses with the death of Patroclus, one of them, inspired by Juno, replies ift human voice, and tells him that his own doom draws nigh. Several of the gods and goddesses take part in this last conflict, some on the side of the Greeks, and some on the Trojan side.

The principal interest, however, is centred in the heroic deeds and narrow escapes of Achilles, who dashes through the Trojan host, hewing many in pieces, driving others into the river Scamander, and forcing the remainder to take refuge within their walls, Hector alone remaining outside the Scxan gate, which is guarded by Apollo. As Achilles draws near him, the Trojan heros courage wholly deserts him, and thrice he flies, with his adversary in pursuit. Then his guardian, Apollo, leaves him, and Minerva comes to the aid of her favourite. Hector now turns and challenges his foe, at the same time endeavouring to make a mutual agreement that the dead body of whoever of them is slain should be returned to his family, but Achilles rejects the proposal, and makes the first thrust. Hector rushes on him and falls mortally wounded by Achilles spear, beseeching that his father Priam may be allowed to ransom his corpse, and prophesying the death of his adversary when he obdurately refuses his prayer. Savagely, instead, Achilles fastens the body to his chariot, and drags it towards the Greek fleet, in sight of Priam and Andromache.

On reaching the ships he flings the corpse in the dust in front of Patrocluss bier and, whilst he sleeps after his exertions, the shade of his friend appears to chide him for leaving his body so long unburied. Next day the funeral pile is built, and the burial rites are celebrated, twelve captive Trojan youths being slaughtered by Achilles himself, and their bodies added to the flaming heap with the other libations. Then followed the funeral games, consisting of chariot races, boxing matches, wrestling, foot races, a single combat with shield and spear, archery, and hurling the spear. But the wrath and grief of Achilles are not yet appeased, and for twelve days he drags the body of Hector each morning three times round the tomb containing the ashes of Patroclus. At last Priam is led by Hermes to his tent, and the aged monarch, in an agony of supplication, succeeds in obtaining from him the corpse, which, after it has been washed and anointed, and clothed in costly raiment by Achilles orders, he carries back to Troy. The poem then concludes with a description of Hectors funeral rites, for the due celebration of which Achilles has spontaneously offered a twelve days truce .

Greek Mythology

Question: In Greek mythology who killed Achilles?
Answer: Paris